UN: 1.3 B metric tons of food wasted yearly

MANILA, Philippines - About 1.3 billion metric tons of food are wasted every year, yet a seventh of the world’s population “goes to bed hungry” and over 20,000 children under the age of five die from hunger yearly, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

To help reduce such huge amount of food waste, Filipinos should adapt eating habits that will cut down food waste and its corresponding ecological impact.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje made this call yesterday as the country started celebrating Environment Month this June, which kicks off with the observance today of the World Environment Day with the global theme “Think. Eat. Save.”

Paje underscored the need for every citizen to rethink one’s eating habits and be mindful of the way food is produced and consumed.

“Many of us give very little regard to the entire chain from food production, which requires so many raw materials that are often sourced from the environment, up to food consumption, where waste is often detrimental to environmental health,” Paje said.

“These are facts to keep in mind whenever we see food go to waste in farms, in markets, in kitchens and on the table,” he noted.

“Whenever possible, we should therefore be more selective in our food choices... Some types of food, like beef, take more resources to produce per kilogram than others,” he added.

Paje also said that people can reduce their “foodprint” by patronizing food produced in an environmentally sound manner, such as those grown organically or packaged using recycled materials, to lessen waste dumped into landfills that generates methane, a relatively potent greenhouse gas.

Organic food and locally produced products, he explained, “require less emissions-producing handling and transport to bring to our tables.”

Paje also noted that food production to feed the planet’s seven billion people uses a great deal of the earth’s resources, making it the single biggest driver of biodiversity loss.

“In pursuit of food, humanity devotes 70 percent of its freshwater consumption to food production, which also accounts for 80 percent of deforestation and 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.